Kia ora boys. If you don’t know me, I’m Nathaniel Williams, one of four brothers to go to Otago Boys' and this is my fifth and final year here.

Today I'm not here to lecture you or give you advice; instead, I'm here to share one of my own thoughts, short and sweet.

My time at OB's has been great, but I've always wished for the next day off, the next holiday, the next year. Because school can be too much at times, with too much work, too much effort. Just. Way. Too. Much. But now that I'm here, looking at you all, I can say that my perspective has changed.

Your current lives at school may seem overwhelming, because they often are. Staying up late to finish internals, prepping tirelessly for exams, getting up early to take the bus to school, and countless other mundane activities, is hard. However, what I'm saying is that we must not forget to enjoy and celebrate the times we're in. It can be so easy to look towards the future, to hope for a time not yet here - but doing that will cause you to miss out.

Now I am standing before you guys with 9 weeks of school left. That’s right, 9 weeks. Basically 9 more weeks of being a kid, 9 more weeks of hanging out with my mates, 9 more weeks of being in the whanau class, just 9 more weeks of life in high school, before I’m thrown out into the adult world. Now don’t get me wrong, becoming an adult and experiencing freedom is going be awesome. Venturing into a new phase of life is exciting, but it’s also scary. Scary moving out of home, scary trying to find a place to live, a degree to study, or a job to work. All these challenges we are going to have to face after leaving school.

So, celebrate the day to day grind with yourself and your mates. Knuckle down when possible, so that when you want to go have fun, you can. I still remember, like it was yesterday, being in Year 10, sitting in maths class just talking nonsense about whatever until I hit Year 11, then Year 12, and finally being in my final year of high school. Don’t take being a kid for granted, live in the moment, experience being young, enjoy it.

 As traditions go, I'll leave you with a quote from good old Ferris Bueller - “Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Kiaora Tāne